Jennifer & Maki: Germany You haven't watched them. Expectations that we will win were never so low since 1950. And in 1950 they were so low, because we did not participate!!! brain selection: Brasil, Portugal, England heart selection: Cameroon, Germany don't believe anything blindly what I say. Old, wise german football saying: Important is in the field. [ June 01, 2002: Message edited by: Axel Janssen ]

The team that wins the world cup will win the World Cup. Simple, isn't??

Roy Ben Ami
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posted Jun 01, 2002 06:12:00

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actually Germany is doing good... at the time of this post they lead 2-0 versus saudi...

Roy Ben Ami
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posted Jun 01, 2002 07:41:00

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OH MY GOD!!! it ended 8-0 !! i cant remember such a score for a long time in the world cup! wow even as an israeli i feel sorry for the poor saudis.....

Axel Janssen
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posted Jun 01, 2002 08:54:00

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Originally posted by Roy Ben Ami: even as an israeli i feel sorry for the poor saudis.....

especially the team manager. The prince of the royal family was in the tribune. They showed in TV. In the 1st half he managed to keep some bitter smile, but that vanished somewhere between goal 5 and goal 6 in the 2nd half. Poor team manager. :roll: At the moment more than 60% of goals in world cup are from german team.

I would love to say BRAZIL but the fact is that Argentina has the strongest team this tim, followed by France, Brazil. But Italy has a chance as they will go up to quarter final without facing very strong oppenent. I 'll still bet for Brazil....

Call me an American barbarian but I just don't understand how anyone can watch soccer. It is the most booooooring sport imaginable. I just watched the first half of Cameroon vs. Ireland and I was falling asleep. 1-0 after the first half. Each team had a few good chances but it seems that soccer has become a 1-0 game. Good teams just can't score against each other. I used to watch soccer from England when I was in college and the games had a decent amount of scoring, 5-3, 4-1, etc. I heard they are using a different kind of ball in this world cup to try to drive up the scoring. Doesn't seem to be working too well.

its not about the score Thomas. football , or as you call it - soccer, is the greatest sport in the world (except usa) and the most popular for many reasons. if you were right and it was BORING then why so many people watch it?? the whole point about football is that it is the ONLY game in the world that makes people faint,cheer and jump like there is no tomorrow. football is the only sport that can provide unforgettable moments in almost every game and can change the result of the game in seconds. one of the examples i can give is the final champions league a few years ago when manchester united won 2-1 over bairen munich!! the score was 1-0 to bairen at minute 89 but in 2 minutes the red devils (man. united) put 2 goals and won the game and took the most important cup in europe. no other game can do that. i could go on and on on why football (soccer) is the best game ever but it is probably pointless cause you are an american and by the way, the game you mentioned (cameroon versus ireland) was a great game!!! although the score was at the end 1-1 the game was tense and fun to watch. especially the second half as a last example, take the germany-saudi match: it ended 8-0 to germany but was BORING as hell. i would rather see another 1-1 (ireland-cameroon) then 8-0 (germany-saudi). just shows you its not about the score. [ June 01, 2002: Message edited by: Roy Ben Ami ]

Axel Janssen
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posted Jun 01, 2002 15:45:00

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background: in germany lots of games are only in Leo Kirchs Premiere pay-tv. For me this guy represents plain evil, so I won't buy it, even if this terrorist utilizes torture, like not let me watch some great South Africa - Paraguay match. You just can't imagine that feeling when I discovered that some until now unknown french speeking great belgic station transmits all the games life (RTBF). Columbus must have felt the same, when he saw some carribean shore. Or Cort�s when he reached Technotitlan. Or that Mayflower guys, when the american coast appeared out of the dust. allez les belges.

Damn; Logic says Brazil will trash us ( Turkiye -Turkey- ) Then I say or I wish to say no way ! I also have an excuse to be a fan of Sweden ( my wife ) But I still like to dream about Turkiye beating Brazil God of Soccer let us beat Brazil :roll: [ June 01, 2002: Message edited by: ersin eser ]

ersin eser
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posted Jun 01, 2002 19:14:00

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Damn ! I forgot: I don't believe in GOD...

Thomas Paul
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posted Jun 01, 2002 19:51:00

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What other game gives exciting last minute turnarounds... ummmm well basketball, football, baseball. In fact, most sports. The thing I like about baseball is that there is no clock to tell you when you are finsihed. No need to dawdle with the ball to eat up the clock. That batter is still going to be there waiting for your pitch. And for excitement, nothing has been as exciting as the NBA semi-finals. LA saved game 4 with a 3 point shot with .6 seconds on the clock! I have no idea why soccer is so popular outside of the USA. I can only think that the game is irrelevant and something else is going on. So how much beer gets drunk by the fans before each game? As far as the Ireland-Cameroon game, I could see why it would be considered exciting. There were a few exciting moments in the first half (I didn't watch the second half). Each team had a couple of decent scoring chances. That is, in 45 minutes of play there were maybe a toal of 4 decent tries at the net. One exciting moment per 10 minutes of play. Yawn!

Thomas Paul
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posted Jun 01, 2002 19:56:00

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< quick comment > I hope everyone realizes that this is just gentle ribbing between sports fans. Personally, when in a bar I'll cheer for a game of pool given enough ale. < / quick comment > [ June 01, 2002: Message edited by: Thomas Paul ]

Soccer is one of the greatest sport in the world. It is followed in many countries. It may not be popular in US(BTW DOES US HAVE A TEAM TO WORLD CUP??)but for the rest of the world i guess it is the ULTIMATE SPORT.

well you cant argue about smell and taste (is that even a saying in english?) and yes the USA is participating in the world cup. the highest it ever got there by the way was the 4 place (semi finals) in the first world cup ever in 1930. also Ersin i wish good luck to Turkey! i really wish it wins and i bet you Turkey will win Brazil 2-0 !

Ashok Mash
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posted Jun 02, 2002 08:02:00

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Originally posted by Thomas Paul: ... It is the most booooooring sport imaginable...

You haven't tried watching Cricket Test match, have you? And I personally consider Golf as the most boring (and lazy) game. Hardcore cricket buffs in cricket playing countries like mine, spends full 5 continuous working days watching live telecast in TV, even though 75% of all test matches ends in a draw.

So, IMHO interest in a game is something that you will have to acquire from your society, school, club etc. Otherwise any game (exception BattleDome & WWF) is doomed to be dull and boring.

Thomas Paul
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posted Jun 02, 2002 09:20:00

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You win... cricket is indeed the most boring sport ever devised by mankind. I actually like golf on TV but I think that comes from being a player. I couldn't imagine someone who doesn't play golf being able to weatch it for more than a couple of minutes. And until someone mentioned it here, I had no idea if the US had a team in the World Cup.

Roy Ben Ami
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posted Jun 02, 2002 10:22:00

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Thomas , this wednsday 5/6 you play against Portugal if you would like to get bored you could watch it.

football is the only sport that can provide unforgettable moments in almost every game and can change the result of the game in seconds.

Actually, almost any sport can do that. (Except cricket, perhaps. ) Here's an example that's probably almost as obscure to the rest of the world as soccer is to the US. I still vividly remember a hockey game...game 7 on the Eastern Conference finals between the New York Rangers and the New Jersey Devils. The game had gone to overtime (actually, I believe they were in quadruple overtime - it should be noted that overtime in hockey is sudden death - first goal wins). The Devils generated a great scoring chance which beat Richter (the Rangers' goalie) and struck the crossbar very hard. The puck bounced all the way back ouy to center ice and turned into a breakaway for the Rangers. The shooter put the puck in the net and, just like that, when it looked like the Devils had the game, within 5 seconds, the Devils were done and the Rangers had won the game. I still remember seeing Brodeur (the Devils' goalie) drop to the ice when the shot went by him. Soccer isn't special because it can generate historic moments. Most sports do that (take game 7 of the NBA conference finals last night). So why isn't soccer a big deal in the US like it is in the rest of the world? I don't really know. One guess is that we (Americans) don't play soccer much as children. My hometown didn't even have an organized soccer program. It's hard to watch something that you can't relate to. Another is the fact that we have Football (American football, that is), which the majority of the sports fans in America love. Perhaps this distracts us from Soccer. There's my two cents on the topic. Corey

ersin you got my synpathy. turkey deserved at least a draw. too bad judges can decide games even in the world cup. they shouldnt let korean judges judge because the game is played in their country!!! only top notch judges should be allowed to judge. anyway, from my experience, brazil will pay for this in the futur games . and did you see rivaldo?!!? i heard he is applying to a new job as an actor.

Ashok Mash
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posted Jun 04, 2002 06:16:00

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I agree with you on the Roy. What Rivaldo did is 'over the limit' of allowed acting/simulation in any footballers dictionary. That was too much. Turky did really well, but apart from the cheating at the end, Brazil played well too. Brazil deserve that win, but it was earned through very bad football .

Roy Ben Ami
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posted Jun 04, 2002 08:15:00

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Ashok you are right, Brazil did play better but it didnt deserve to win. also, i just heard FIFA will disqualify rivaldo and he will be kicked out of the worldcup as a lesson for others.